


five times gabriel wanted sam to propose

by StarlightDragon



Category: Supernatural
Genre: 5 Times, 5+1 Things, Alternate Universe - Human, Domestic, Established Relationship, Fluff, Gabriel is a Little Shit, Lawyers, M/M, Marriage Proposal, True Love, why tf does sam put up with him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-24
Updated: 2015-07-24
Packaged: 2018-04-11 01:25:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4415699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarlightDragon/pseuds/StarlightDragon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>From the start, Gabriel Novak made it clear to his long-term boyfriend, Sam Winchester, that he never wanted to get married. When Gabe changes his mind, he has to resort to some serious scheming to show Sam that he actually wouldn't hate a proposal as much as he always said.</p>
            </blockquote>





	five times gabriel wanted sam to propose

**Author's Note:**

> Weddings are my thing. Gabriel as a Saul Goodman-style lawyer is also my thing and I would love to write more about it but my legal knowledge is sadly limited to Suits and one criminal justice class.
> 
> I wrote this fic and then I accidentally deleted half of it and then I wrote it again so hopefully it's better the second time around and I didn't forget any awesome lines.
> 
> Thanks to Annie for beta-ing that one sentence that just wouldn't go right.
> 
> ALSO. I am currently ~12k words into a potential Project that would be like... I'm estimating 20k for the first one but then there would also be a couple of sequels. And I have writers block on that and I'm scared because I don't usually publish long things that I write. But if anyone wants to send me angry tumblr messages telling me to stop procrastinating and write, that would be really appreciated.

**one**

Gabriel Novak liked to complain about a lot of things. Potholes in the road; the state of Broadway theater these days; the local diner changing their brand of maple syrup. Sam Winchester, his boyfriend, usually thought it was cute that Gabe cared so much about such small things. But one of Gabriel's favorite things to complain about - maybe the only one that annoyed Sam - was weddings.

Gabriel had parents who were each on their third marriage when they had him, and as such, he was the youngest of eleven siblings, half-siblings and step-siblings. All of them except him were now married, which meant that he'd been to ten Novak family weddings. He'd spent ten long afternoons in too-hot churches wearing an uncomfortable suit and listening to a man with a monotone voice make generic speeches about something that was supposed to be special, followed by ten long evenings smiling at relatives he didn't recognize and asserting over and over again how happy he was for his brother or sister, even though he'd never seen any evidence to show that their relationship even made sense. It was far more than anyone could cope with, and that, combined with the fact that three of the older ones were now divorced, was enough to put Gabriel off weddings for life.

It had taken Sam some time to come to terms with this after he and Gabriel started getting serious. Sam had always pictured himself getting married someday - that was what people _did_ , and the alternative hadn't really crossed his mind. But after Gabe made it clear that he still planned on staying with Sam for a very, very long time, living with him, being completely exclusive and making plans for their future together, unofficially, Sam realized that he could live without the big party.

Once they'd reached that agreement, the topic didn't come up again until their five year Stanford Law School reunion.

Sam and Gabriel had graduated in the same year. Sam had been top of their class and was now an up and coming lawyer at a famous firm in San Francisco; everyone from their graduating class remembered him, wanted to see him again, and expected him to attend. Meanwhile, Gabriel had always been the kid that everyone had looked at and wondered to themselves if the admissions offices had let him in as a joke. He had good memories of school, and had had plenty of friends at the time, but he wasn't sure he wanted to mingle with his classmates who were now just as successful as Sam and be forced to admit to them that these days, he was nothing more than a sketchy billboard lawyer.

But the event was important to Sam, so he sucked it up, put on a tie that didn't have fluorescent stripes, and held his hand as they walked into the building for the Friday night mixer.

It wasn't long before they ran into somebody they knew - it was easy enough to look for the people who didn't have grey hair or bald spots on their heads yet. 

"Jessica!" Sam cried in recognition, tugging Gabe over to where a woman (who still had a full head of long, blonde hair) was standing with a man who was presumably her husband. Jessica Moore had dated Sam for a while during their undergrad, but it hadn't worked out, and the two of them had stayed friends when they both moved on to the law school together.

Jess turned, and beamed when she saw them. "Sam Winchester! And Gabriel Novak! You two are still together, then?" She gestured down at their joined hands. "How long's it been, eight years now?"

"Yeah, it'll be eight years in January," Sam grinned, looking proud. When he and Gabe had got together in their first year of law school, neither of them had expected that things would last anywhere neat this long. Gabe had been something of an experiment for Sam. In high school and college, he had only dated people who were fairly similar to him - quiet, traditional, respectable - three words which didn't even come close to describing Gabe. And as for the reverse, well, Gabe had to admit that he'd seen Sam as a challenge at first. He just wanted to see what exactly it would take to break through Sam's stand-up guy exterior and find the wild, crazy guy who was obviously inside. But they'd both been pleasantly surprised at how well the two of them complemented each other, and somehow, things between them had only got better and better over time.

Eight whole years, though. That made Gabriel stop and think for a moment. That was a really long time. Over a quarter of his life - the best quarter, for sure.

"You, uh, you thinking of getting married any time soon?" Jess asked.

Gabe was about to jump in with a response, but Sam got there first. "We're actually not going to do that. I mean, eight years of memories is far better proof that we're going to be together forever than any ring, right?"

"That's really beautiful, Sam," Jessica said, with just a touch of sarcasm. "No, seriously, that makes sense. And it seems like you're doing really great. My boss talks about you all the time, she's obsessed with your cases. I think she secretly wants you to work for her."

Gabe half-tuned out the conversation at that point. If the two of them were going to talk smart lawyer-y things, he didn't want his shady tricks to bring the conversation down.

His eyes were drawn to Jessica's wedding ring, which caught the light as she gesticulated with her hands to illustrate some particularly exciting courtroom story. It was pretty, he thought, but it was also more than that. It was like a constant reminder of her husband. If she was having a bad day, she could look at her ring and think about the fact that there was someone out there who loved her enough that he wanted to give her that ring; that commitment to each other. And when she was going about her everyday life, people would see the ring, and they'd know that she had that kind of happiness. And maybe it would make those people smile too, and remind them that there was one more good thing in the world.

And, of course, those things could happen anyway, with a photograph in a wallet, or a tattoo, or any number of things, but that didn't stop Gabe from looking down at his own hand and wondering what it would look like with a ring on it.

Of course, he'd be going back on all his principles if he went and got married. He'd have to tell the whole world that he'd changed his mind, and that wouldn't be fun.

But he'd also get to tell the world how much he loved Sam, and _that_ was already one of his absolute favorite things to do.

Maybe marrying Sam wouldn't be the worst thing he could imagine. His siblings got married because they thought it was what their parents expected of them. Gabe wouldn't be doing that. He already didn't care what his parents thought, and he probably wouldn't even invite them. He'd be getting married because he thought Sam was incredible and because it would be really cool to have a whole day where it was socially acceptable to go around crying on random people's shoulders and screaming in their ears about all the reasons why Sam was so perfect.

But with everything he'd said about marriage in the past, he'd pretty much ensured that Sam was never going to surprise him with a proposal. If Gabe actually wanted this to happen, he was going to have to start dropping some serious hints.

"Hey, I was thinking," Gabe said casually later in the evening, when the two of them were standing alone again, sipping champagne. "This would be the perfect place to get engaged, wouldn't it? For a couple who met in school, I mean. All their friends who knew them when they first got together would be around. Can you imagine it?"

Sam frowned. "Yeah, I guess. Why, are there any other couples from our class who are still together?"

"Nope. Pretty sure it's just us," Gabe said pointedly.

"I guess it'll have to wait for another year, then. If you're still in touch with anyone from the year below, you can suggest it to them." Sam cast his eyes around the room again, spotting someone else standing not too far away. "Oh, hey, is that Andy? We should go say hi to him."

Gabriel followed after Sam, rolling his eyes. How was it not obvious that he'd been talking about the idea _for them_? 

He'd just have to keep working at it.

**two**

Gabe gave it a few weeks before trying anything again. But the holidays were fast approaching, and that meant lots of nights curled up in bed with Sam drinking hot apple cider and reading quietly together, and Gabe had the perfect idea of some new reading material for them. So the next time he found himself alone in a convenience store, he picked up a necessary prop for the next stage of his plan.

The cashier gave him a confused look when he took it over to the register, but Gabe just grinned at him, dropped a few dollar bills on the counter, and walked out.

That night, he took it out of its bag, climbed under the covers and started reading as if it were the most normal thing in the world. When Sam emerged from the bathroom, Gabe patted the bed next to him, exactly the same as he did every night. Sam climbed in and wrapped an arm around Gabe before turning his attention to what was in front of them.

"Gabe, what the hell are you reading?"

"It's a bridal magazine," Gabe replied, turning the page, trying to look engrossed in the article.

Sam looked down at it too, scanning the headline.

"Six Ways To Get The Dress Of Your Dreams On A Budget? How is that, in any way, something you need to read?"

"Uh, yeah, so maybe not _all_ of it is personally relevant..."

"Gabriel, none of it is personally relevant!" Sam was using that tone he reserved for times when he thought Gabriel was being absolutely ridiculous. (This was most days.) "Why do you even have this?"

"I don't know! It just caught my eye and I was like, hey, why not?" Gabe hoped Sam would pick up on the fact that he was referring to more than just the magazine.

Sam ruffled Gabe's hair. "You're the strangest guy I've ever met. You know that, right?"

Gabe nodded, flicking through the magazine. "Come on, there might be more stuff in here. Look, here's a flowchart quiz! These are always fun... 'Which Celebrity Should Officiate Your Wedding?' I mean, I always thought that I should be the most famous person at my own wedding, but still..."

Sam tugged the magazine out of Gabe's hands. "Come on. Let's read something that's actually interesting. You want to read Harry Potter again? I bet you do."

"Deathly Hallows?" Gabe requested, fluttering his eyelashes up at Sam. There was a wedding in that, too. That might help.

"Fine." Sam got up and pulled the book off the shelf, and Gabe didn't protest any further, because the magazine really wasn't that interesting, if he was honest, and Sam reading to him was a far better use of his time.

**three**

Dropping hints about getting married was far too easy if Sam was just going to do it for him.

One night after working late, Sam opened the door to their apartment, walked into the living room and threw his briefcase down onto the rug, scowling angrily at nothing in particular.

In a second, Gabe was at his side, pulling him onto the couch and reaching up to massage his shoulders.

"What happened, sugar plum? You lose a case?"

Sam shook his head, relaxing into Gabe's hands. "No, but I might start losing a lot more before long."

"How come?"

"Ruby is getting married." Sam said it in the same tone that he might have said 'Ruby stole my bank account details and ordered two hundred strippergrams to perform in my office.'

"Ruby your paralegal Ruby?" Gabe checked, making sure it wasn't some other Ruby who Sam wouldn't want to be happy for some reason.

Sam nodded. "Yeah, to some guy who lives in Michigan! She's moving away, and she won't be able to work for me anymore, and I'll never find anyone as good as she is."

Gabe pulled a sympathetic face that Sam wasn't able to see, but the thought was there. "It's okay, I'll help you find someone. We both still have plenty of contacts at Stanford. Are you invited to her wedding at least?"

"Yeah, but like I said, Michigan. We probably don't want to go all that way."

Gabe tried to keep his voice casual as he figured out to play this one. "That's hard. If I was getting married, I'd make sure it was local. I know destination weddings are a thing or whatever these days, but I'm not about that. I'd want everyone to be able to come."

Sam turned, laying against the back of couch, pulling Gabe's head down to rest on his chest. "I mean, I guess all her husband's friends are already there. They had to pick one location or the other."

"Not like we would have to worry about that, hey, Sammy?"

Sam frowned. "Are you saying we've been living in the same place too long? You hinting that you want to move house or something?"

Gabe shook his head. He hadn't wanted Sam to get that idea at all. Even though they had moved in here a really long time ago, and could probably afford something nicer by now, Gabe didn't want to trade their little apartment. It was home. 

"No! I love this place, you know that. Wouldn't wanna leave it. I was just..." He could always just tell Sam what he was really thinking. "...never mind. Hey, I made you food. I'll go heat it up for you."

Next time, for sure, Sam would figure it out.

**four**

"Hey, Gabe?"

Sam stuck his head inside the front door of the apartment, from where he'd been working on his car outside. His hair was a mess and he wasn't wearing a shirt, which momentarily distracted Gabe, and it was a few seconds before he remembered to reply, "Yes?"

"Can you open up my laptop and check what time we agreed to be at my brother's tonight? The email should already be open, and my hands are covered in car oil."

Gabe opened up the laptop and typed in Sam's password. "Yeah, he says not til eight, so you're fine to stay out a while longer."

"Great. Thanks," Sam grinned. "I should only be another half hour."

"Alright, have fun!" Gabe called after him, and a moment later, the door closed, and Gabe was left with Sam's laptop open in front of him.

He could look through Sam's search history, but where was the fun in that? He already knew exactly what kind of porn Sam watched.

No, there was something far more entertaining - and potentially useful - that he could do with his time here.

By the time Sam showed up back in the apartment, shivering slightly from the cold, Gabriel was waiting with a warm blanket for him, and Sam's laptop was out of the way on the table, sitting innocently exactly where it should be.

It took a few days for Sam to notice anything was wrong; and Gabriel was there when it happened. They were both up late researching for their respective cases in comfortable silence, when Sam started frowning at his computer, angrily clicking on a lot of things in quick succession.

"Think I've got a virus," he grumbled.

"Oh no! You should go to bed. Get some rest, have some tea and honey, I hear it helps." Gabe deliberately misunderstood.

"Ha ha." Sam wasn't laughing. "All these random websites have been bookmarked on my computer and now I can't find these old case records that I thought would be useful. I saved them a few days ago and I didn't think they'd get lost, cause I normally try to keep my bookmarks neat."

"Weird!" Gabe purposefully laid it on a little thick, trying to reinforce to Sam that he might have a personal investment in this issue. "What sort of sites are they?"

"That's the odd thing. They're not, like, scams or anything you'd expect. There's the site a nice hotel in the area... a local flower arranger... a catering company... a whole bunch of pages of engagement rings for men... it's like I've got an overexcited wedding planner hacking into my computer."

"Huh. Maybe give it a couple of days. If it doesn't keep happening, then it's probably not a virus."

Sam shrugged. "Yeah, but what else could it be? I'm gonna run antivirus to make sure."

**five**

Gabriel knew Sam was oblivious and he loved him for it, but honestly, this was getting ridiculous. He'd had no idea this was going to be quite so hard. At this rate, he'd be old before Sam finally figured out he wanted to get married, and then he wouldn't even look good in a tux. Sam was undoubtedly going to outshine him on the big day either way, but Gabe would still like to be a respectable second place.

So he came up with a last-ditch, absolutely definitely going to work, so obvious it hurt final plan.

The two of them had been out shopping. What was supposed to be an errand run had turned into Gabe buying himself an entire new spring work wardrobe, Sam spending a full hour and a half in a bookshop, and the two of them treating themselves to lunch at a cute corner bakery because they were both far too hungry to drive home. Now, of course, they were both too full, but Sam said he'd suck it up and drive anyway because otherwise they'd never make it back.

When they reached the car, Sam bent down to re-tie his shoelace.

Gabe gasped, as theatrically as possible. "Yes! Yes, Sammy, of course I'll marry you!" he cried, raising his hands to the heavens.

Sam didn't laugh. He straightened up and turned his full attention on Gabriel.

"Gabe, can I ask you something?"

Sam was looking at him intently, nervously, and Gabe's heart started pounding. Was this really going to happen? Right now? In a parking lot? He'd hoped he might get a little time to prepare, that Sam might at least build up to it for a while, but at this point, he'd take what he could get.

He nodded, his eyes widening as he looked back into Sam's.

"You can ask me anything."

Sam collected his thoughts, taking a deep breath.

"You've been talking a lot about getting married recently. I couldn't help noticing that. And I didn't know if it was intentional, or whatever, but either way, I wanted you to know that... you don't need to feel pressured into anything. I know that it's been a long time since we last had this conversation, but I'm as okay with not getting married as I always was. Because I respect that it's not something that you want. And if I said anything to make you think otherwise, then it was completely unintentional, and I'm sorry. I'm really happy. I don't care if your name is Gabriel Novak and not Gabriel Winchester; I'm happy just being with you. Got it?"

Gabe's heart sank as he listened to Sam talk, and he looked away, nodding in defeat. Of course. He'd spent so many years being a dick about this whole marriage thing that there was no way Sam would believe him now that he really did want to get married. All he'd done with all his stupid comments and games was make Sam feel worried and uncomfortable and insecure. Gabe probably didn't even deserve to marry him.

"Yeah. Alright, I'm sorry. I won't mention it again."

**+one**

Fuck it all.

It was time for him to take matters into his own hands - quite literally, he thought, as he walked into the ring store on a mission.

"Can I help you with anything?" a shop assistant asked him.

"Yeah! Yeah, actually, you can. I need an engagement ring. See, I want to marry my boyfriend. It's all I want, actually. But apparently chivalry is dead or something because no matter what I do, he just won't take the hint! And I know he wants to get married, he always has, it's just that he's just a stupid moose who's too scared to do anything about it so it looks like I'm going to have to do it for him!"

He slammed his hands down on the counter when he was done, out of breath from his impassioned speech. 

"Wow. Okay," the assistant said, sounding a little taken aback. "Um, I'm not sure we have any rings for that situation specifically. But if you tell me what sort of price range you're looking at, I can help you find something that he'd like."

That Saturday night, Gabriel took Sam out to dinner at one of their favorite restaurants. It wasn't a special occasion and they weren't celebrating anything in particular, but Gabe insisted that he would for everything and that all Sam had to was dress up 'really nice, because everyone will be looking at you.' Sam had looked confused, but had done what Gabe said, deciding it was easier to just go along with it.

But by the time they'd ordered their food, he was starting to get concerned.

"Gabe, what's going on? You're acting strange and you keep bouncing your leg like you need to pee," Sam said, bluntly.

Gabe jiggled his leg faster, scared. "I don't need to pee. I just was hoping to use tonight to talk to you about something."

Sam screwed up his face. "Should I be worried?"

"No! Not worried, just... look, I was going to wait until after the food, but I actually don't think I can eat until I've done this, so here goes."

Gabriel climbed out of his chair and walked around to Sam's seat, getting down on one knee beside him.

And suddenly, he could almost understand why Sam had never taken the risk and proposed to him. This was terrifying. Gabe had done college theater and performed on stage in front of a thousand people but that was nothing compared to how he felt now; kneeling in front of Sam, knowing he had to say exactly the right thing to make this moment as memorable as possible, because he only got one chance, and Sam would look back on tonight for the rest of his life. There was just so much pressure, and he really should have planned what he was going to say in advance, but now it was too late, and- 

"Gabe, what are you doing?" Sam bit his lip, eyes wide.

"Well, I'm not sucking you off in the middle of the restaurant if that's what you're thinking. I'm doing the other thing that it looks like I'm doing."

Shit. That hadn't exactly been how he wanted to start his speech.

"But we talked about this-"

"And you said you didn't want me to feel like I had to do anything. Right. But here's the thing; I _never_ do anything I don't want to do. And I haven't spent the last few months trying to trick you into proposing to me because I think it's what _you_ want. I've been doing it because I _know_ it's what _I_ want. Because you and me, we would be great at being married. We'd be the best. We could get a minivan and fight over whose turn it is to do the dishes and send out joint Christmas cards with pictures of us in Santa hats. We could buy a slow cooker and we could get a dog and we could get our mail addressed to Mr and Mr Winchester. I used to think those things weren't important, because I was with you and that was all that mattered. Well, I still think that. But I think those things would be fun anyway. I'd never, ever want to marry anybody else, but you... I look at you, and I think of the idea of there being some piece of paper nobody will ever read, locked away in some dusty records office somewhere in the country, that says our two names and the fact that we chose each other, forever - and I get this stupid grin on my face. I can't explain it, but I do. So... Sam Winchester, will you marry me?"

Sam glanced around the room, only to see that the other guests at the tables surrounding them had stopped eating to listen to Gabriel's speech. The waiters, too, were frozen halfway to tables holding steaming plates of food above their heads; and even some of the chefs were standing in the doorway to the kitchens, watching what was going on, staring at Sam, waiting for him to say something.

"What made you change your mind?" was what he finally came up with.

"I don't really know. I mean, I sort of do. It was at the reunion when Jess asked us if we were ever going to get married and you said no and right then I just couldn't remember why not. That was the moment I realized, but there were a lot of reasons, before and after... look, is this a yes or a no? Oh, I got you a ring and everything."

Through his nerves, he'd forgotten about that, but now he pulled a tiny box out of his pocket and opened it to reveal a gold engagement ring, shaped like a vine, leaves twisted around to create a circular band.

Sam covered his mouth when he saw it, blushing like he'd only just worked out that this was happening for real.

"Yeah. I'm saying yes. So long as you're sure it's what you really want. Gabe, I'd have married you five years ago if you'd wanted to back then. And I'll marry you today. Or next year. Or in ten years' time. Or never. Whatever will make you the happiest, that's what I want too."

As soon as Sam stopped speaking, everyone around them burst into applause.

"I mean, next year sounds good. Give us some time to plan. Don't wanna just run off and get married in the first place we see with nobody around," Gabe said, laughing, once the clapping had finally died down and the general activity around them had resumed. He took the ring out of its box. "You want this? Consolation prize for not picking up on any of my hints?"

Sam nodded, holding out his hand, and Gabe hadn't expected to see tears falling down his face. He'd thought that _he_ would be the one to cry. The fact that it was Sam wiping his eyes was a surprise.

"I'm sorry," Sam managed to choke out through his tears. "I'm not good with hints, you know that. If you'd come right out and asked me to propose to you, I'd have done it."

Gabriel slid the ring onto Sam's finger. "I'm sorry too. I'm just no good at just saying stuff like that."

"No, you're not, but I don't care. You're still my fiancé and I still love you." Sam pulled Gabriel up into his lap and kissed him, hard, in front of the whole restaurant. Gabe's head was spinning with a combination of the kiss and the giddy feeling he got when he heard Sam refer to him as his fiancé. 

Gabriel Novak liked to complain about a lot of things. One of those things was weddings, and probably always would be. But that only meant that he would make absolutely sure his own wedding was as amazing as possible.

And with Sam standing opposite him, that was pretty much a guarantee.


End file.
